


You Make My Dreams Come True

by theloverneverleaves



Series: Shadowhunters Love Fest [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec is a perfect brother, Alternate Universe - This World Inverted (Shadowhunters TV), Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Izzy is a smol nerd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9543758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theloverneverleaves/pseuds/theloverneverleaves
Summary: Alec has been planning his big charity Valentine's Day party for weeks, so the fact that his little sister is still in her pyjamas and refusing to move is unacceptable. Izzy doesn't exactly see it that way - but maybe there's more to go to the party for than she'd thought.aka. world inverted party ft. liberal clizzy and lightwood siblings





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the Shadowhunters Love Fest - there's gonna be a new one of these every day for the next two weeks, and some of them might even be in this universe! 
> 
> Come talk to me on [isabellebiwoods](http://isabellebiwoods.tumblr.com/) if you like xoxo

“Izzy, come on, we’re going to be late!”

Alec’s voice echoed through the door, and instead of moving, Isabelle Lightwood simply burrowed further underneath her duvet, bringing her tablet closer to her face, eyes fixed on the images dancing across the screen. Rather than wait for a response, though, Alec knocked, sticking his head around the door, eyes widening when he finally caught sight of his sister.

“No, Iz, you are not doing this to me,” Alec complained, striding over to the bed and not so gently pulling her tablet from her hands. Izzy whined in protest, hands grabbing but touching little more than air. She pulled her headphones off, pouting a little.

“I was watching that!”

“You’ve seen that movie seven times. You have not been to my party seven times,” Alec reminded her, raising an eyebrow. Izzy sighed, taking in her brother’s appearance. He was perfectly dressed, as always. Not a hair out of place, navy blue shirt lifted by the palest gold tie, cream pants and nice shoes. Izzy hadn’t thought anyone could make cream pants work, but her brother was a professional. He had a sense of style that anyone would envy. He took care of himself.

Unlike Izzy, who was currently wearing an oversized shirt with the TARDIS printed on it, a tiny pair of cotton shorts with a Minnie Mouse pattern, and her oldest, biggest pair of glasses. Her hair was a mess, and frankly Izzy thought she had looked better on period days. Which was saying something.

In Alec’s defence, she _had_ promised him that she would go to his party. After the anniversary party at the Institute, Alec’s business had taken an upswing. He’d been doing okay before, but apparently Alec Lightwood was now the most popular event planner in town, and the charity Valentine’s Day gig was a big deal for him. Family was everything to Izzy so of _course_ she’d promised to go but that was… before.

“Iz, come on. What’s wrong? Are you sick?” he asked, reaching out to feel her forehead like he used to do when they were little, checking for a fever. Izzy let him for a moment, enjoying the comfort of the gesture, before shaking her head. She raised a hand, gently pulling his away, holding in her own instead.

“No, no. I’m fine. I’m just… not feeling up to it. You go. Have fun without me.” Izzy’s voice held a tone of false cheer, one that Alec saw through straight away. She could see it in, in the slight narrowing of his eyes and the arch of his eyebrow.

“Is this about Simon?”

Dammit.

“No.”

“If you need me to kick his ass, I will,” Alec threatened lightly, and Izzy giggled softly at the thought, shaking her head a little.

“Alec, you couldn’t kick anyone’s ass even if they stood still and let you,” she said softly. Her brother might be many things, but good at fighting he was not. She was the one in the family taking kickboxing classes. But at least he was better than Jace. Jace had been in a fight once. The results had been so spectacularly embarrassing they all swore to never let it happen again.

So really, if anyone would be able to kick Simon’s ass, it would have to be Izzy. But even she had opted not to do so. It didn’t seem like so long ago that she and Simon had been so _happy_ together. She’d even moved in with him. But then his band seemed to really take off, and he was never home, Izzy never saw him and the gap between them was just getting bigger and bigger. It had taken her months to accept it. But one night, she’d been lying in bed, the other half cold and empty beside her, and she’d realised this absolutely wasn’t what she wanted from her life. And that whatever she felt for Simon this… void wasn’t worth it.

So she’d moved out. Alec still had a spare room, and half the time he was over at Magnus’ place anyway, enjoying the company of his own boyfriend. It was a nice arrangement. Other than the part where her brother was now all the closer for fussing over her and worrying about her wellbeing.

“No, but I could probably shoot him,” Alec pointed out, and Izzy rolled her eyes.

“Alec, archery isn’t a combat sport, we talked about this.”

“Hey, in 1587-”

“Can you even hit a moving target?”

Alec paused for a moment, chewing his lip.

“If it runs in a straight line.”

She laughed openly, and Alec smiled, squeezing her hand gently. Her siblings had always meant a lot to her. Alec, Jace and Max were everything to her. After all their parents were always working, which meant more often than not Alec had been the one looking after them. That bond was sacred, special. It couldn’t be replaced. And her brothers would always, _always_ come first in her life.

“Come to the party. Please,” Alec asked her, an appealing look in his eyes. “You know you love Valentine’s Day.” Izzy snorted.

“No, _you_ love Valentine’s Day. You always say it’s a perfect time to pull because everyone’s sad and lonely and drinking in bars looking for a fling to make themselves feel better.”

“Exactly. So come and pull at the party and show Simon exactly what he’s missing,” Alec challenged her, and Izzy sighed a little. It sounded nice in theory, sure, but she wasn’t Alec. Alec made it his mission every year to have as many random flings on or around Valentine’s Day as possible, whilst collecting as many weird chocolates and cocktails as possible. It was his tradition. Which, actually…

“What does Magnus say about your traditions?”

Alec flushed slightly, rolling his eyes. “He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t need to, because we’re going to make some new traditions if I ever make it to the party.”

“Ew.”

“Iz!” Isabelle giggled. Alec tugged her hand lightly, pulling her forward out of the bed a little. “Come on. Please come.”

“Alright, alright. Let me get dressed,” she whined, ignoring the glint of victory of Alec’s eyes. But before she could get very far, Alec pulled her to the side, changing her direction.

“Hair and makeup first, _hermanita._ We need to dress to impress, not to watch Netflix,” Alec told her calmly, pushing her into a chair in front of her dresser, delving into the bottom drawer that was full of Izzy’s tiny makeup collection - the one she only opened on special occasions. Birthdays, parties, things like that. Which was probably why Alec picked out the shades and the brushes, dragging over a chair to sit in front of her.

“Now sit still, we have work to do and not a lot of time to do it.”

 

* * *

 

Isabelle had always been aware that her brother knew how to work a miracle. Ever since she was eleven and had watched fourteen year old Alec singlehandedly rescue Christmas in two hours with a roll of tin foil, paper, ribbons and a spatula, she’d known he was some kind of God. Because really, her brother was… perfect in every way. Well. Izzy had always used to say Alec was brilliant at everything other than romance, at which he was a solid A+ for the first week, and everything after fell down to a D- in rapid succession. But Magnus had changed all of that, as Izzy was reminded 10 months in, watching her brother chatting to some of the fancy people from the charity, an arm boldly wrapped around Magnus’ waist. The other man was blushing slightly, no doubt because Alec wouldn’t shut up about how great he was.

Honestly, they were so cute Izzy wanted to vomit a little.

But this time, the miracle Alec had worked was nothing to do with the party. After all, the party was always going to be perfect, with everything dressed up in clean whites, pinks and reds. It was sufficiently Valentine’s Day enough without being so cheesy that it stopped being tasteful. There was plenty of wine, good music and an excellent atmosphere. Another success.

No, the real miracle was the fact Alec had fixed her face, hair, gotten her dressed and out the door in under twenty minutes, making them only ten minutes later than planned for the party. No one had even noticed. And looking in the mirror, even Izzy had been impressed. Alec had gone shopping with her to pick out the dress weeks ago. Not as if she couldn’t go shopping on her own, but it was always fun going with Alec, and he always said shopping with Magnus was no fun because Magnus bought the same stylish and vaguely sensible clothes in eight different colours and called it done.

Izzy could see the attraction, frankly.

But still, here she was, dressed up in the little purple number they’d found in Macy’s, hair tied up in a ponytail to hide the knots they hadn’t been able to get out, an old silver eyeshadow, mascara and some of Alec’s moisturiser somehow making her look like she might vaguely belong at this party. She’d even put on her nice glasses.

She’d spent most of the night with her family, Jace and Alec being her support through these things that she either found fun or boring and there was no inbetween. Alec had managed to make tonight fun enough, though. And Magnus was there too - Magnus who was basically family, if you asked Izzy. Which no one ever did, of course. Not unless it was ‘Isabelle, can you fix the printer?’. Honestly, she didn’t spend her time studying computer science for this.

Still, it had been fun, and Izzy was currently enjoying herself, sipping on some pink cocktail she’d been handed by one of the wait staff, entirely entranced by the way the liquid was swirling through the straw to-

“Izzy! I didn’t realise you were here.”

Isabelle whirled around on the spot, doing her best not to slop her drink down that nice dress of hers, a smile lighting up her face at the sight of the girl in front of her.

“Hi Clary.”

Really, Clary was still her best friend, no matter what. It was kind of funny, how it had all started out. Simon had always gone to Java Jace for coffee before band practice, and after a few months, he’d started taking Clary with him too. Clary and Jace had jumped at each other almost instantly, which meant Alec and Izzy inevitably started seeing more of Clary and Simon. Her and Simon had always bonded over the latest show or game, and eventually, she’d convinced herself that nice nerd boy was everything she could hope for from a relationship. Even if she spent her whole life around nice nerd boys, because really, IT was full of nothing but nice nerdy boys who only knew how to communicate with women if it was about PC specs or the latest blockbuster game with about 450 unresolved bugs.

Izzy had convinced herself it was enough. That it was common ground, that it would work out. But the truth was that the space between Simon and her had been a blessing in disguise. It had been a reason to end it, and although she might miss Simon, things felt better to her now. She liked Simon. She liked his company. But she didn’t like his company any more than any of the other boys she worked with. And she didn’t want to have sex with any of those boys.

Not that Izzy had said any of this out loud, because if she did, she would have to admit she wanted something different, and frankly, Izzy didn’t really know what that was.

“You look… really beautiful,” Clary told her, and Izzy blushed a little, laughing.

“All down to Alec, I’m sure. He had to help with my makeup again,” Isabelle told her, and Clary smiled. God, speaking of beautiful… Clary was… otherworldly. Her pastel green dress was like spring grass, and her eyes shone in the lights of the party. Her red hair was as vivid as always, and Izzy couldn’t help but take her in. She had a little spot of paint on her hand, as always, and her smile just lit up the whole room. She was everything.

“If you’d called I would have come over and helped. Emergency or not,” Clary reminded her, reaching out for her hand, slowly walking around the edge of the room.

“I wasn’t sure that I was coming,” Izzy admitted softly. “Valentine’s Day parties are no fun single.”

“Pft, I’m here, amn’t I?”

It was true. Clary had been single for as long as Alec had been dating Magnus which was… completely backwards in Izzy’s mind. Izzy didn’t quite know what had happened at the Mad Hatter party for the Institute, but her and Jace had never been quite the same since. She got the impression even Clary didn’t know sometimes, but eventually they’d broken it off and agreed to remain friends.

It had taken them the entire ten months to get to the ‘friends’ stage, but still. Izzy didn’t want to reopen old wounds. Especially not with her boss’ daughter.

Izzy followed Clary towards the balcony, letting her guide them out into the cool February air, the sight of New York City spilling out before them. It was beautiful, and even out here was decorated, with bunches of roses everywhere in pretty stone vases, and fairy lights lining the railings.

“I always thought there was something magical about Valentine’s Day. Something… romantic. So many people taking a chance on love for one day… what’s not to like about that?” Clary asked, spinning around slightly on the spot, her skirts flowing with her. Izzy smiled, nodding a little.

“I suppose. But you’re an artist. You think everything is beautiful.”

“I think _you’re_ beautiful,” Clary replied quickly. There was a moment’s pause as Izzy processed the words, opening her mouth to respond. But before she could form the words, Clary reached out, fingers keeping Izzy’s mouth closed, and Izzy swore her pulse picked up. Here was Clary, gorgeous, fierce Clary, telling her she was beautiful and now… she was touching Izzy’s lips.

Izzy had never been stupid enough to think she was straight, not since she was 12 and had marathoned the entirety of Xena Warrior Princess. But Clary… Clary was super straight, right? She’d been dating Jace, and she’d only ever really talked about boys, other than that one time they’d talked about how gorgeous Angelina Jolie was but who _didn’t_ think Angelina was gorgeous?!? Clary was straight and Izzy wasn’t stupid enough to fall for straight girls and oh god what was Clary reaching for now?

Izzy watched, frozen as Clary reached for one of the vases, carefully extracting a single red rose from the bunch. “I was hoping to see you, actually,” Clary murmured as she did so, her attention focused on the flower as her fingers fell away from Izzy’s lips. “I know… I know you and Simon didn’t break up _that_ long ago but… I’ve been thinking… I mean, maybe I haven’t I always… anyway,” Clary finished, clearing her throat and holding out the rose for Izzy. “I just… wanted you to know there was still someone who loves you. And will take you out for Chinese food and Star Wars whenever you like.”

Slowly, oh so slowly, Izzy reached out for the rose, fingers carefully gripping the stem as she stared at the flower. Was this real? Had she slipped into some strange alternate reality where Clary wasn’t straight and was interested in _her_? Clary was… beautiful and an artist and brilliant and so loving and joyful and happy and Izzy was just… just a nerd in stupid nerd shirts who couldn’t even apply lipstick without her gay brother’s help.

What the hell would be attractive about her to someone like Clary?

“Do you mean… love or… _love_?” Izzy asked softly, emphasis forming around the word because she had to be sure. Some girls could be… strange. Holding hands and calling each other girlfriends without ever really _meaning_ it and if Izzy wanted one thing to be clear, it was that. Clary knew Izzy was bi. She’d known that for years, ever since they met, really. But Clary…

“I mean…” Clary paused, taking a deep breath, and Izzy wondered how long she’d been building herself up to this. “I mean I would like to take you out for Chinese. And they’re reshowing The Empire Strikes Back at the cinema. If you want to come.” Clary paused. “Like a date. If you want. Or a friend date if you don’t!” Clary added in a rush, at the end, and Izzy shook her head violently, stepping forward to grab Clary’s hand.

“No, no! A date… a date would be perfect.”

Clary smiled like Izzy had just cured cancer, and yep, that was definitely her pulse skipping a beat.

“That’s… perfect. That’s really, really perfect.” Clary glanced back to the party, starting to pull away. “Anyway I should just-”

“Clary?” Izzy asked softly, and Clary stopped in her tracks, staring at her like a deer caught in headlights. “It’s just… we’re at a nice party already. And it is Valentine’s Day so… why don’t we just… have a date… now?”

The second she said it, Izzy regretted her words, so sure that Clary would turn her down. She probably had someone else to see, something else to do. But Clary just smiled, nodding after a moment. “That sounds perfect.”

And perfect it was. So perfect that Izzy didn’t even notice Jace passing Alec a $20 bill muttering about how he couldn’t believe he lost. So perfect that for once, Izzy didn’t even worry about what she had to do tomorrow. So perfect that she didn’t care that she destroyed a glass with her dancing, and she didn’t care how many people gave her strange looks.

Because at the end of the night, she had Clary in her arms. And nothing else mattered.


End file.
